Will ‘Hit Man’ Fuel Glen Powell’s Rise to Stardom?
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This week’s Screen Talk marks the opening of the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival with the documentary “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” which co-host Ryan Lattanzio admired while admitting that it is one of the hagiographic celebrity profiles cluttering the nonfiction space these days. The film not only covers Von Furstenberg’s fashion career but her colorful personal life. She turned down a threesome with Mick Jagger and David Bowie, for one thing, before eventually marrying Hollywood mogul Barry Diller.
Another Tribeca doc that screened at Cannes is Nanette Burstein’s “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,” which HBO will air later this summer. Taylor told many juicy stories of her life to her old “Lassie Come Home” buddy Roddy McDowall, including the day she met her “Cleopatra” costar and future husband Richard Burton, and how George Stevens insulted her on the set of “Giant.”
Co-host Anne Thompson finally screened “Hit Man,” Richard Linklater’s knowing exploration of identity. Can you change who you are? That’s the question facing nerdy professor Gary (Glen Powell) as he takes on various personae as an undercover hitman. While we both enjoyed the clever movie, we were less impressed by the writing of the battered wife character (“Andor” star Adria Arjona), who falls for one of Gary’s hipper, sexier avatars. We also question whether a Netflix release will fuel the “Anyone But You” star’s overt lust for stardom. Box office remains the ultimate test of movie star status.
Royal bodice ripper “Mary & George” on Starz is yet another welcome reminder of Julianne Moore’s acting prowess; she carries the series opposite hot-as-flapjacks Nicholas Galitzine (Amazon hit “The Idea of You”), who also needs some box office legs to push his stardom.
Hitting theaters this weekend is terrific family drama “Ezra,” which boasts a top-flight cast: Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale, and Rose Byrne, as the grandfather and parents of an autistic kid (William H. Fitzgerald) who keeps getting in trouble. And if you have a taste for horror, IFC is banking on its widest opening ever — over 1,000 theaters — “In a Violent Nature,” which is told from the point-of-view of the slasher.
Later this months brings the long-delayed release of Jeff Nichols’ motorcycle drama “The Bikeriders,” starring Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, and Jodie Comer. Focus Features picked it up from Disney, thankfully.
As the summer box office continues to disappoint, we say a sad farewell to the Mad Max franchise and hope that “Inside Out 2” delivers some welcome bodies to theaters.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
